I rarely miss teaching. I don't miss grading papers, getting up ridiculously early, or having to deal with attitudes from teenagers who think the world revolves around them.

But...

As annoying as those teenagers can be, they are what I miss the most. When I was asked if I wanted to help direct the play where my husband attended high school it was a no-brainer. All the fun of being at a school with a quarter of the hassle! I would have the opportunity to be involved in theater again but with three other directors. Being the new-comer and the only one that didn't work at the school, my role was mostly supportive, which was great after the burn-out of being the sole director at my old school for four years. It's amazing what a difference being part of a team makes. With Matt in busy season it was also a great way to fill up time in those long, lonely afternoons.

Most importantly though, I was able to be involved with teens. Honestly, I didn't even realize how much I missed that until working with them again. It's easy to get caught up in everything that goes along with being a mom and over-think my place in the world when there are opportunites right in front of me. I was reminded of one of the main reasons why I wanted to teach high school in the first place. I love the age where the future still holds endless opportunity and life is either completely exciting or devastating. It's just fun to be around people who are in the stage of life that doesn't revolve around being reasonable. It was refreshing being around young people again.

And the icing on the cake? Emma got to be part of it too! It's funny how much pride you can take seeing your child do absolutely nothing on stage but look cute. Pictures to come soon...

We spent last Sunday at Busch Gardens with our growing, jumping, climbing, dancing, balancing, singing, talking, little monkey.

I had such a cute picture of her on her daddy's shoulders, but our memory card apparently crashed and the Emma/Daddy pics are lost. Dangit. You'll just have to imagine how cute it was, but whatever you imagine wouldn't even be cute enough. It was just that cute.

Days like this...

make me appreciate living in FL.

At the end of summer in NY, we get excited about the NY State Fair...

At the end of winter in FL, they get excited about the Plant City Strawberry Festival...

Some come for the games

and rides.

We spend our money

on things like this

and this.

But it's the shopping

that's most irresistable.

Welp

Entered this picture in the Strawberry Festival...

Guess Award of Merit is better than Award of Nothing

Evening in the ER

Yesterday we reached an inevitable parental milestone that no one wants to make. Our first trip to the ER with our child.

No fun.

Em was standing in the large part of the cart (I know, I know) as I was grocery shopping. Not the best safety practice I admit, but she's only allowed to stand up by me as I hand her snacks. And my child is always obedient and would never wander up to the front of the cart in the two seconds when I wasn't looking. Plus, the buckle on this particular cart was broken and my little wild thing has been known to weasel her way out of grocery cart buckles anyway. Alright, enough justification? Yes, thank you, I felt like a terrible mother.

It all transpired quickly, as accidents tend to do. She crept up to the front of the cart, and as I was in the middle of telling her to come back, she flipped over. On her head. It made the most awful cracking sound on the hard floor. I dove for her and ended up with some pretty painful bruises on my knees, which makes me realize how much her head must hurt. My initial thought as she was falling was that she was going to break her little neck, but thankfully it was fine. She screamed (a good sign) as I cradled her in my arms on the floor while half the store stopped to stare. I got off the floor and went to sit at a bench where there happened to be an EMT who briefly checked her. Matt asked if he was wearing an EMT uniform because he was probably just hitting on me, you know, like most 25 year old guys do to messy-haired pregnant mommies with screaming toddlers on their laps. But any who, he thought I should take her in to get an x-ray and I phoned my doctor who agreed. Unfortunately, urgent care facilities won't see children under two, so off to the wonderful city ER we drove.

Ew.

Not the place for an almost two year old and pregnant lady. When we weren't outside being blown away by the 25 mph winds, we were scrunched up in the farthest corner from everyone else as possible. Turns out I am not very compassionate when it comes to small spaces of hacking, puking, crying people. At least not in this situation. It was gross.

Four hours later, we left the hospital with empty tummies and a good report. Her x-rays came back fine, so we headed to grandma and grandpa's to get some food since I never did finish that grocery shopping. Em got her fair share of sympathy and home we went. After getting her pj's on Em told us she wanted to cuddle. How could we possibly resist such a request? We all fell asleep in each others arms, which couldn't have been a better way to end the day.

On Saturday, Matt ran the Gasparilla 5k in Tampa. Though it felt more like a central NY Turkey Trot. It was coooooooold. And rainy. And generally not the time for men to wear muscle shirts and shorts higher than mid-thigh. Yuck-O. Unfortunately, they wore them anyway. I suppose when you run three miles in fifteen minutes you have the right to wear anything you want.

My sporty husband ran it in just over 24 minutes, which I thought was good with the training schedule he kept of one day on, twelve days off.

Emma didn't really appreciate being wheeled around in the rain and cold, but she did like Daddy's medal.